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China

Ms Glenda Jackson: To ask the Secretary of State for Foreign and Commonwealth Affairs what assessment he has made of the human rights record of the Chinese Government in respect of practitioners of Falun Gong; and what steps he is taking to promote human rights in China. [126669]

Mr. Battle: We are deeply concerned about the treatment of Falun Gong adherents, including the passing of severe sentences, by the Chinese authorities since the movement was banned in July 1999. We and EU partners have made this clear to the Chinese Government on a number of occasions and urged them to comply with the provisions of the International Covenant on Civil and Political Rights which China signed in October 1998.

On 20 June I called in the Chinese Ambassador to London and expressed directly my concerns to Mr. Ma on the treatment of dissidents in China, and on the alleged intimidation in China of family members of a Falun Gong practitioner who is a UK citizen.

We are pressing for greater respect for human rights in China through our bilateral human rights dialogue with the Chinese Government. During the last round of the dialogue in February 2000 we agreed to establish a joint expert working group to work towards the ratification and implementation of the International Covenants on Civil and Political, and on Economic, Social and Cultural

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Rights. An invitation was also extended to the Foreign Secretary's Death Penalty Panel to visit China to discuss issues relating to abolition of the Death Penalty throughout China.

Execution (Texas)

Mr. Leigh: To ask the Secretary of State for Foreign and Commonwealth Affairs if he will make representations to Governor George Bush of Texas about the execution on 22 June of Mr. Gary Graham. [126983]

Mr. Battle: The EU Presidency, on behalf of the UK and other members, made representations to the Governor of Texas on 17 May on behalf of Mr. Graham asking him to commute Mr. Graham's sentence to life imprisonment, or such other penalty as is compatible with international law. Notice of the EU Demarche was given to the State Department.

Advertising

Mr. Loughton: To ask the Secretary of State for Foreign and Commonwealth Affairs how much has been spent by his Department on advertising in each year since May 1997. [125694]

Mr. Hain: The Foreign and Commonwealth Office does not use advertising to publicise Government policy or programmes.

SOCIAL SECURITY

Social Fund

Mr. Webb: To ask the Secretary of State for Social Security if he will estimate the additional administration cost of every (a) budgeting loan and (b) crisis loan if they were repaid over a period of (i) 78 weeks, (ii) 104 weeks, (iii) 130 weeks and (iv) 156 weeks. [125286]

Angela Eagle: The administration of the Social Fund is a mater for Alexis Cleveland, the Chief Executive of the Benefits Agency. She will write to the hon. Member.

Letter from Alexis Cleveland to Mr. Steve Webb, dated 19 June 2000:

The Secretary of State has asked me to reply to your recent Parliamentary Question asking if he will estimate the additional administration cost of every (a) budgeting loan and (b) crisis loan if they were repaid over a period of (i) 78 weeks, (ii) 104 weeks, (iii) 130 weeks and (iv) 156 weeks.

The integrity of the social fund depends on recycling the loans within a reasonable timescale to make future loans available as soon as possible.

Only a composite figure for the cost of recovering budgeting loans and crisis loans is available. Approximately 95% of Social Fund recovery is taken directly from benefit in payment to the customer. Around 90% of that is taken automatically through a computerised link between the Income Support and Jobseeker's Allowance computer systems and the Social Fund system. Staff input is required at the beginning and end of the process, but very little intervention is needed during the course of the recovery. While some recovery from benefit is made by clerical processes, and customers no longer in receipt of benefit are pursued to repay their loans by other means, the proportionate cost of this is small in comparison to the overall cost of recovery.

As a consequence, it is estimated that the administrative cost of the process would not be greatly affected by the duration of the recovery period if the customers who took advantage of the longer

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repayment periods remained on benefit throughout. However, the longer the payment period, it is more likely that customers will leave benefit before their loan is repaid. Then the proportion requiring clerical activity would increase and therefore administration costs would rise but we are at present unable to quantify by how much.

I hope this is helpful.

Winter Fuel Payments

Angela Smith: To ask the Secretary of State for Social Security how many pensioners in the Basildon parliamentary constituency received Winter Fuel Payments in (a) 1998-99 and (b) 1999-2000; and how much was paid in total in each of those years. [125955]

Angela Eagle: The administration of Winter Fuel Payments is a matter for Alexis Cleveland, the Chief Executive of the Benefits Agency. She will write to my hon. Friend.

Letter from Alexis Cleveland to Angela Smith, dated 19 June 2000:

The Secretary of State has asked me to reply to your recent Parliamentary Question about how many pensioners in the Basildon parliamentary constituency received winter fuel payments in (a) 1998-99 and (b) 1999-2000; and how much was paid in total in each of those years.

In 1998-99, 13,241 winter fuel payments (WFP) were made in the Basildon constituency; in 1999-2000, 16,098 payments were made.

In 1998-99, the total amount of WFP in the Basildon constituency was £256,940; in 1999-2000, the total was £1,204,050.

WFP exercises before 1998-99 highlighted that over 500,000 customer accounts did not hold a postcode. A correction exercise resulted in more postcodes being allocated. The figures for 1999-2000 in the Basildon constituency increased due to this, and also because of the increase in the WFP from £50 to £100 from 1999-2000.

I hope this is helpful.

Widowed Mother's Allowance

Mr. Lidington: To ask the Secretary of State for Social Security when the Benefits Agency received application for widowed mother's allowance and widows' payment from Mrs. C. M. of Weston Turville, Buckinghamshire (WA 075311C); when his Department will complete its calculation of her benefit; when she will receive payments; and if he will make a statement. [126529]

Angela Eagle: The administration of benefits is a matter for Alexis Cleveland, the Chief Executive of the Benefits Agency. She will write to the hon. Member.

Letter from Alexis Cleveland to Mr. David Lidington, dated 19 June 2000:

The Secretary of State for Social Security has asked me to reply to your recent Parliamentary Question about the widow's benefit claim made by Mrs Caroline Moran, 4 Worlds End Lane, Weston Turville, Aylesbury.

As you will appreciate, individual customers' cases are confidential. I will therefore, write to you privately on this matter.

Mr. Lidington: To ask the Secretary of State for Social Security (1) what his target is for processing applications for widowed mother's allowance; how many applications are being processed within that target time; and if he will make a statement; [126525]

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(2) how many applicants are currently awaiting a decision on the calculation of their entitlement to widowed mother's allowance; and how many of those have been waiting for more than (a) three months, (b) six months and (c) 12 months; [126523]

(3) what is his policy on paying interest on late payments of widowed mother's allowance. [126524]

Angela Eagle: The administration of benefits is a matter for Alexis Cleveland, the Chief Executive of the Benefits Agency. She will write to the hon. Member.

Letter from Alexis Cleveland to Mr. David Lidington, dated 19 June 2000:

The Secretary of State for Social Security has asked me to reply to your Parliamentary questions asking, what his target is for processing applications for widowed mothers allowance; how many applications are being processed within that target time; and if he will make a statement. Also, how many applicants are currently awaiting a decision on the calculation of their entitlement to widowed mother's allowance; and how many of those have been waiting for more than (a) three months, (b) six months and (c) 12 months, and what is his policy on paying interest on late payments of widowed mother's allowance (WMA).

The Benefits Agency (BA) has targets for the clearance of Widows Benefit claims. The targets are measured from the date of receipt of the claim in the BA to the date the benefit is awarded. Figures for the individual widows benefits, such as Widowed Mothers Allowance are not maintained.

The current clearance target is 85 per cent. in 10 days for Widows payment cases and 85 per cent. in 30 days for Widows benefit.

The latest figures available show that for the year ended March 2000, 90.2 per cent. of claims to Widows Payment and 78.5 per cent. of claims to Widows Benefit were cleared within target.

For the months of April and May 2000 the Widows payment clearance is running at 91.5 per cent. and at 84.5 per cent. for Widows Benefit.

Although individual benefit offices would be able to focus on the state of their uncleared claims for management purposes these details are not fed into any national statistical counters. The information required to answer your question could only therefore be obtained at inappropriate cost and effort.

It is clear from the figures quoted above that the clearance target for Widows Benefit claims was not met for 1999-2000. This has been due for the most part to the difficulties associated with the introduction of the new National Insurance computer system (NIRS2). NIRS2 provides the BA with its benefit calculations including those for entitlements to Retirement Pension and Widows Benefits.

Early figures for 2000-2001 as above show an improving level of clearance for Widows Benefit claims as NIRS2 recovery proceeds.

Failure to process a WMA claim within the published operational targets will not, in itself give rise to a special payment. Each case must be considered on its own merits.

In the majority of cases, it is anticipated that claims will be processed by the Agency within published timescales. However, some cases will legitimately take longer to process than others because of the complex nature of the case and the degree of work involved.

Different rules apply where payment was delayed because of the implementation of the new National Insurance Recording System (NIRS2). Where a customer has suffered unreasonable delay and inconvenience in receiving their full entitlement to WMA which was solely attributable to the problems encountered with the implementation of NIRS2, they automatically receive a £10 flat-rate compensatory payment.

Where payment of WMA has been unreasonably and exceptionally delayed due to official error a special compensatory payment in the form of interest would be considered.

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Where the customer feels that the compensation calculated does not adequately compensate for the financial loss actually suffered as a direct result of the delay, a specific claim for further compensation should be made by the customer and full supporting evidence of the loss provided.

I hope this is helpful.

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